This game is REALLY good. I was actually nervous about it because when it was first revealed everyone basically called it a Nier knockoff and I... do not like Nier. But this game isn't a Nier knockoff. It's Nier improved. Almost every complaint I had with Nier is either not present in this game, or not a big enough complaint to hamper it. The combat is immaculate and only gets better the longer you play. The side quests are wonderful and cover a large amount of repeat NPCs who you'll grow a bond with the longer you're around. The world is gorgeous (even if I do wish there were more area "archetypes"). The level layouts are wonderful and really encourage exploration, while not feeling like a checklist of menial tasks. The lore of the world is superb. The boss fights are REALLY fun, especially in the back half of the game. The customization is phenomenal. The story is... fine? I don't think it's one of the best, most compelling stories I've experienced but I was invested enough, and the twists left me pleasantly surprised. I think my biggest gripe is the characters. Our playable character and two supporting cast members are unfortunately pretty flat. They do sort of have an "arc" but it always feels more like it's happening in the background. It's something that gets brought up on occasion and the characters sort of talk about it, then drop it, over and over until the climax. I do think EVE, your player character, is still the best characterized after seeing her interact with a lot of the side content, but in the main plot she feels like... well.... like a slightly more expressive 2B.

Usually, for me, a game is carried by its characters. This is the rare exception where everything else about the game is just SO damn good that I can overlook our main cast being a bit flavorless.

If you want a game that's sort of a blend of Sekiro and DMC, get this game. But just expect the story and characters to also sort of fall in line with those games, too.

Even as someone who was very excited for the game since the demo dropped, I didn't expect to be THIS in love with the final product. It's genuinely unbelievable that it's Shift Up's first console project. This is a technical marvel packed with eyecandy environments, models and effects that still runs at 60fps the whole time at a 30GB file size. In a lot of ways it feels like the first true 9th generation game I've experienced, and finally not a remake or sequel of anything else. So many moments where I was genuinely blown away by what I was seeing and experiencing, like arriving in the main city for the first time. Still shocking that SIE decided to back this so hard in publishing and promotion as it seems to go against everything the company is about in recent years but it's a move I'm thankful for.

Stellar Blade harks back to the PS2 era, unashamed of being a video game and prioritising gameplay above all else, with a ton of unlockable outfits and new game+ free on day one. Not to say that its design is primitive in any way as it incorporates all the best parts of modern gaming too. Areas are a mix of linear setpiece based levels and more open exploration. I liked how the side missions took you to new locations and had actually great rewards, and in general it's not a ridiculous time sink like a lot of modern games. Combat is an absolute blast, a fusion of other great actions like Sekiro, Bayonetta, even Resident Evil at times. Very reflex heavy swordplay wth a variety of different ranged firearms as well. With the amount of skills and specialized equipment you can collect you'd think it would get too easy after a point, but you will still get put in your place by the brutal boss fights at the end of the story. The grotesque monster designs and the elaborate animations for dismembering them are just on another level, every encounter sticks out in my memory. And I've seen criticism of it but I personally loved the parkour and Uncharted style climbing around the world. I felt like there was such a huge variety to what I was doing for my whole 40 hours played and it was mixing multiple genres I love perfectly. Finally if this game doesn't at least take nominations for best OST of the year it will be an absolute crime because it's constantly hitting your ears with objectively heavenly sounds, the most atmospheric emotional vocal songs seamlessly switching to more intense versions when fighting. Combined with the landscapes and art design you just gotta stop and take it all in sometimes.

This achievement has been overshadowed by some REALLY braindead controversies over the last few months and I've also seen a lot of hate from fans of the other series that clearly inspired it. It's a new IP so harsh critics are to be expected but I look forward to more people warming to it and realizing how it's actually a love letter to those things and an amazing game in its own right, and I hope EVE will be respected one day like Bayonetta, 2B etc have come to be. This singlehandedly made me feel less doomer about the game industry, if we can still get stuff like this every once in a while we may be alright. I will be eagerly awaiting whatever these devs make next on console

This game is full of SOUL.

+ Stellar art direction
+ Stellar vibes
+ Stellar combat
+ Stellar Bosses
+ Stellar Soundtrack
+ Stellar presentation
+ Stellar performance and optimization
+ Fun dress up game tbh
+ Puzzle Variety
+ Rule of Cool the whole way through

- Fairly mediocre storytelling and characters, but the actual world and story is still cool in concept.
- One of the final boss options is pretty lame compared to the other, its also the only boss in the game that felt slightly buggy. Kinda weird. The other boss is SUUUUPER rad though.

I very much enjoyed playing this game. Great combat, great graphics ( I played on balanced ), incredible soundtrack, and found the story to be fine.

Combat is probably what I loved the most in this game, parrying and dodging feels very satisfying, and the final few bosses can genuinely be hard.

Soundtrack is incredible, hanging around the camp and hearing the music just feels very nostalgic for some reason.

I liked the level designs, but felt that it peaked with the first area ( Eidos 7 ). Character designs are great, and I love Eve's outfits.

I played on balanced mode, and while the levels are mostly 60fps, in the main hub and in like two boss areas, the frame drops can be pretty noticeable.

Story is fine, but a bit on the shorter side. Can definitely complete it in about 10-15 hours.

Dragons Dogma 2 feels like the world I used to imagine while reading fantasy books as a kid. The cozy open world freedom combined with fantastic combat & an addictive loot/ upgrade system. Going off the deep end in post-game to divine other worldly levels alongside some superb dungeon crawling encounters. It's got a much nicer after taste than other superb but frontloaded RPGs. There’s something about the atmosphere of Dragons Dogma, the perfect darkness, the physical things, such as having to use a lantern after nightfall or getting hit with shock DMG if soaked in water, the wizards and warriors casting a skill for almost 30 seconds straight... it just feels very real & old school. Going on a quest at sundown, surviving a hard fought night, watching the sun come up as you reach the final destination. DD2 might have best magic system in any rpg , prolly the most visually appealing magic in video games, the melee combat is also great. Basically it's a setting I like and the combat seemed like a more appealing dark souls. One of my all time favorites, if not the favorite RPG. The pawn system as a party shtick that I love in stuff like Goblin slayer and berserk & other peak fantasy media. Long hands give + attack range with swords, heavy characters are knocked around less & can pin down enemies (large/small), small characters consume less stamina when climbing enemies, long legs gives +movement speed, etc. so peak. Rant over. Play Dragonsdogma

Between 3, 4, and 5, Persona 3 was always my least favourite. Tartarus was a tedious slog, you didn't get to delve very far into your relationships with the people you were closest to, there were bizarrely no option to just be friends with any of the love interests meaning you just didn't get to finish Social Links, and above all there was simply no definitive version of the game with FES and Portable both having features the others lacked. But what Persona 3 did always have was a strong story, a well-defined message, a great main party, and of course, a tremendous soundtrack. While Persona 3 Reload disappointingly lacks a FeMC route, I am happy to say that it features everything else I could want from the game and more, and (unless you want to experience the better main character), the easiest version of the game to point to and say yes, you should play Persona 3.

For the most part, visually it is a stunning upgrade. There are new mo-capped(?) 3D cutscenes for certain moments that feel incredible, and in general the game is also a lot more vibrant while still retaining the colour palette of the original game with lots of blues and greys. You can tell they wanted to adapt a sort of similar style to Persona 5 and it works, with the exception of losing some of the personality in the old character portraits for a more "clean" look.

The soundtrack as expected is fantastic. While many of the less prominent songs are retained in their original version, there are a ton of new remixes. Lotus Juice returns on many of the vocal tracks this time with Azumi Takahashi in place of Yumi Kawamura. It's Going Down Now is introduced as the new advantage battle theme in Tartarus, and Colour Your Night is the new night time theme as Moon's Reaching Out to the Stars is shifted to be only in the day. Colour Your Night in particular is one of my new favourite Persona tracks, I ran around outside at night a bit just to hear it more. While long time fans of P3 might find the new remixes a little hard to adjust to, by the end of the game I definitely loved all of them. Takahashi's voice brings a softer vibe in contrast to Kawamura's, but it is in no way a replacement - they both fit just right.

Similarly, perhaps the thing I was most excited to hear going in was the new voice cast. Many of them feel very similar to their old actors and actresses, while others feel entirely new. Junpei and Akihiko in particular really killed it for me, with the former elevating the character far above what they were previously in my mind. All of the other social links are fully voiced now too, with Yuko and Bebe being big standouts.

P3 Reload also introduces a number of new ways to interact with your party members with new Link Episodes where you spend time with and get to know your male party members better. There's also new activities in the dorm at night that not only are fun little events, but also contribute to their capabilities in battle via their Characteristics. As an example, you can cook or watch DVDs with Yukari enough times, and SP costs of her healing spells are halved, then quartered. These events ALSO will increase your social stats or give you an extra useful consumable, so they do not feel like a struggle to fit into a game with an already tight schedule. It really goes a long way to help them feel like a group of friends who live and fight together, which was sorely missing in the original games.

And finally, we come to Tartarus. It's really hard to make a 200+ floor dungeon feel engaging, and admittedly it still felt a bit rough going in the home stretch, but the new improvements made a world of difference. First off is the visual style. Each block feels wildly different with striking aesthetics so it really feels more like 5-6 different dungeons at times instead of one big tower. Party members have a new theurgy meter which functions as a super and you gain meter for doing something particular to that character (Akihiko having buffs on, Mitsuru inflicting debuffs/ailments, etc.). They are absolutely overpowered and can invalidate a lot of fights, but they look flashy and damn cool so all is forgiven (such is the way in Persona). The Monad depths that used to serve as an end game optional dungeon are now sprinked throughout Tartarus via random doors and fixed passages, offering harder boss fights for reliable major tarot cards in shuffle time and greater rewards/chests. The major tarot cards you can now draw offer a lot of one-time or same-night bonuses in Tartarus such as greater fusion bonuses or getting to draw extra in Shuffle Time. They also even added a catch-up mechanic, where once per-excursion (or maybe Tartarus segment?) you have a chance of having a clock show up after opening special chests. When you touch the clock, you pick two party members that will level up to the MC's current level in the next battle. Something like this is SORELY needed in Persona where most of the time party members will just stay on the bench once they are placed there to avoid grinding. By the end of my playthrough, every single party member was in the mid-70s and I could freely select them as I saw fit for each battle. I remember one full moon fight in particular, I screwed up my team composition and died but that was cool, because I had the freedom to pick a different set of characters in the same night without feeling under-leveled. I really hope we continue to get mechanics like this, because for games with such a good cast as these, it's such a shame to not use more than 3 of them in battle.

There's a lot more I didn't talk about in this massive review of Persona 3 Reload, but above all I can now happily say I consider it one of my favourite Persona experiences alongside Golden and Royal. I'm sure it'll still get a re-release down the road as is the way with Atlus, but for now anyone looking to try out Persona 3 - this is the one to go for. You won't be disappointed.

"𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉"

"𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏?"

"𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕... 𝑹𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅"

"𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝑺𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒂 𝑴𝒂𝒏 𝑪𝒂𝒏 𝑻𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝑼𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅"

Persona 3 Reload: E a Morte que Recorre a História

Morte... Facilmente um dos temas mais difíceis de se abordar em uma obra seja ela literária, áudio, visual, e qualquer outro tipo de obra que pode vir em nossas mentes atualmente... Da primeira a sétima arte, a morte é algo que sempre ronda aqueles que buscam representar qualquer tipo de sentimento, isso pois:

A Morte é algo que ronda a realidade o tempo inteiro...

Sinceramente, concordo com o texto acima... Para mim, ao menos a morte é o último sono do homem antes do retorno de meu Senhor... Enxergo ela como de fato, o descanso antes do fim.... Mas isso pois, acredito também em uma esperança depois do fim.

Mas isso de fato não vem a tona no momento, o foco agora é Persona 3 Reload... Um jogo que, enquanto obra, é fantástico, entrega visuais de muita qualidade, personagens extremamente bem escritos, e uma história de tirar o folego...

E de fato, as definições que acabei de dar podem ser usadas para qualquer outra obra... Descritas como genéricas... Isso pois, eu não consigo transmitir a experiência que é Persona 3...

Por isso acredito que a melhor forma de vivenciar tudo o 'que esse jogo apresenta, e os conceitos filosóficos, que embora eu discorde, não deixam de ser extremamente bem apresentados para aquilo que a obra se propõem a ser...

Também afirmo que Persona 3 Reload deve ser vivido...

Jogado, testado, experienciado, para que assim você possa tirar suas conclusões de tudo que aqui é discutido... O jogo é enorme, tem muitas coisas pra fazer, e o final me deixou encucado... Embora de fato já tenha encontrado a resposta do o 'que a morte representa, ao menos para mim... As perguntas feitas nessa obra, são maduras, e em minha opinião, necessárias, para qualquer pessoa, seja alguém com muita experiência e conhecimento, ou não...

"𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ 𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠?"

"𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ 𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑌𝑜𝑢?"

De fato, compreendo as criticas feitas ao Reload, por não conter todo o conteúdo já feito para Persona 3...

Mas devo dizer que é uma experiência para uma vida mesmo assim.... Sim eu recomendo... Por favor, vá e jogue se tiver oportunidade...

Para Persona 3 Reload 9.8/10 ou 5/5... Uma experiência para a vida toda...

This game is fucking awesome. I haven't beaten it yet (obviously) but I did play and complete the original and I have to say this remake delivers. Status ailments aren't broken anymore, light and dark skills exist now that weren't just the useless one shot ones, the animations and UI is so crispy and clean and gorgeous, Tartarus is waaay better to traverse, the new combat features and mechanics, etc. this game introduces a ton of new stuff and it's all bangers. One big detail is how much more developed and more in depth the social links are. I remember in the original, alot of the social links had very short and not very meaningful conversations up until rank 6-7 and up. Now from the start alot of them feel great and do a good job at giving you an idea of what type of character that SL character is like. Of course it is a little unfortunate that FEMC doesn't exist anymore as well as the swimming club, music club, and kendo club doesn't exist anymore. Every persona game just hooks me man, how does Atlus do it. I'll probably give this game a full 5 stars once I finish it

EDIT: 2/21/2024
Just finished the game, and WOW. This game is incredible. Persona 5 Royal was incredible, but this game I feel might be even better (though I'm not sure, I still really love Royal alot). One thing for sure, Persona 3 has the best cast 100%. The story and what it teaches about the meaning of life and purpose of death was amazing, everything was presented incredibly well. Hats off to ATLUS, once again making a banger title. 10/10

This is my new favorite game of all time and it's not even close, they fixed EVERY single issue I had with the original Persona 3. The story is fantastic and it's the most emotion any piece of media has ever gotten out of me, the combat and tartarus are SO much more fun then the original and the main issue I had with the story was fixed being strega was extremely underutilized in the original.

To me personally this is the perfect game, I think the only thing that could possibly top this is a Persona 4 remake at this quality.